Coil winding machines are used for manufacturing wire wound electronic components, such as inductors, such as solenoids, transformers, relays, and choke coils. Different applications require different inductor characteristics and therefore require different bobbin types, coiling patterns, and taping. Because of the vast array of inductors used in virtually every manufacturing industry, coil winding machines have been created to accommodate numerous winding variations, including variations in wire thickness, taping arrangement, coiling configuration on a bobbin, number of turns of the wire, pitch of the wire, winding speed, acceleration/deceleration of bobbin rotation, winding direction, and the number of bobbins a machine can accommodate at one time.
A typical application for a coil is, for example, a magnetic-core transformer which is a static device containing magnetically coupled windings. Magnetic-core transformers are used in power systems to change values of voltage and current at a single frequency. In communications circuits, magnetic-core transformers are used over a wide band of frequencies to provide (i) direct-current isolation, (ii) signals splitting and combining functions, (iii) specific current or voltage ratios, (iv) impedance matching, and (v) phase inversion.
A transformer has been defined as follows: A static device consisting of a winding, or two or more coupled windings, with or without a magnetic cord, for introducing mutual coupling between circuits. Notes: transformers are extensively used in electric power systems to transfer power by electromagnetic induction between circuits at the same frequency, usually with changed values of voltage and current. IEEE Standard Dictionary of Electrical and Electronic Terms IEEE Std., 100-1972.
Other examples of inductors include magnetic-core inductors and reactors which are static devices containing one or more windings to introduce inductance into an electric circuit. Reactors are used in power circuits primarily to filter alternating current from direct current. Inductors are used in communication systems primarily in frequency-selective circuits.
The existing types of coil winding machines have a dedicated number of spindles. That is, the number of spindles to accommodate bobbins for coiling is not changeable without great expense and difficulty. Should the user require a greater or lesser number of spindles for a particular coil operation, the user must either obtain an entirely different coil winding machine with a different spindle number or perform a major overhaul on the original coil winding machine to reconstruct the spindle and coil-winding area.
Specifically, the headstock of a coil winding machine houses the motors that rotate the spindles and also integrally includes the spindles on a front face. In existing coil winding machines, a headstock is manufactured with a number of spindles to correspond to the machine to be built. A machine calling for a capacity to wind eight coils at a given time will include a headstock having eight spindles. In order to alter the number of spindles on existing coil winding machines, the headstock must be removed to be replaced by a different headstock having a different number of spindles. Such reconstruction is cost-prohibitive and time consuming.
Existing machines also include a deadpost mechanism having the same number of posts as the number of spindles on the headstock.
The deadpost mechanism maintains (1) wire tension before and after the coiling episode and (2) the wire in a ready position for winding a next bobbin after a previous bobbin has been wound and is removed from the spindle and coil-winding area. Accordingly, existing coil winding machines do not contemplate changes of the deadpost mechanism. As with changes in the number of spindles of the headstock, reconstruction of the deadpost mechanism is cost-prohibitive and time consuming. Similarly, should the number of spindles of an existing coil winding machine have taping capability, the taping mechanism must also undergo a major reconstruction to accommodate the new spindle number.
Accordingly, it is an object the present invention to provide a coil winding machine that can manufacture a greater variety of inductors than is presently possible on any one machine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a coil winding machine that overcomes the problems associated with changing the spindle number or spindle type of prior art coil winding machines.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a coil winding machine whose spindle number and/or spindle type may be changed quickly and economically.
Yet another object to provide a coil winding machine with taping and deadpost mechanisms that are sufficiently versatile to accommodate the wide range of number of spindles in the coil-winding area.
Another object is to provide a coil winding machine with a lower portion accommodating both a taping mechanism and a deadpost mechanism.
An additional object is to provide a coil winding machine with a taping mechanism in the lower portion with movement that is servoprogrammable in three directions.
A further object is to provide a coil winding machine with a deadpost mechanism in its lower portion with movement that is servoprogrammable in two or three directions.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a coil winding machine with several different exchangeable spindle plates which can be easily and quickly fitted and attached to the headstock of the coil winding machine. Each spindle plate may accommodate either different types of spindles and/or different number of spindles.